Inspiration for woodcarvers | Plaster ornaments and useful models for woodcarvers | Plaster models of ornaments | Examples of woodcarvings

Patrick Damiaens

Ornamental Woodcarver

How to make a plaster ornament.

Useful models for woodcarvers.

As was already mentioned in other blog items, plaster models are very important to ornamental woodcarvers.

A plaster model, as the name already suggests, is a three-dimensional reproduction of what a certain ornament looks like.  For example, they give the ornamental woodcarver a realistic and tangible feel of the design and character of a certain style or period.   

Since certain ornaments are typical for a certain style or period, this helps to ascertain the period of a piece of furniture or a building. 

My workshop

Due to their design and tangible presence, models of ornaments play an important role in the education of any decent ornamental woodcarver. Even the most seasoned woodcarver can still draw a lot of inspiration from these models. 
An ornamental woodcarver is therefore always looking for new models. Whenever I’m abroad, visiting a fellow-woodcarver, I automatically pay full attention to their personal collection of plaster models and other plaster casts that adorn the walls of their workshop.
This represents an enormous wealth of information, which whets the appetite for taking on new woodcarving challenges.

 

Especially when I visit the woodcarver workshop “l’Ecole Boulle” in Paris, where the walls are absolutely plastered with beautiful “goodies”, I’m completely overtaken by this greedy sensation, making me think “I want that one” or “how I wish that one was mine”. The only solution at a time like this is to take as many pictures as possible.

This helps you to create an extensive educational archive; a useful personal archive that you can consult whenever you want.

l'école Boulle in Paris

As I mentioned earlier, there is no substitute for “the real thing”.  Plaster ornaments and other plaster casts are essential to the education of any woodcarver, who takes his profession seriously. 

Sketches and photographic material (especially taken with a digital camera) are starting to play a bigger role and have become increasingly more important in the quest for knowledge, but are by no means real substitutes for plaster models. 

l'école Boulle in Paris

Why did ornamental woodcarvers start using plaster ornaments?

Back in the day, when a woodcarver was commissioned to create a decoration or ornament, the design was first moulded in clay and shown to the client so that he or she could decide whether or not the design was to his or her liking. 

One would think that a woodcarver could basically use this clay model to start working on the wooden ornament. Unfortunately, the clay would dry out and start cracking. Pieces would fall off, making this a very inefficient model to use: not then, not now, not ever.
The solution was finally found by first making a mould of the clay model, which was then filled with plaster: the plaster model was born.

This was more durable and because of the hardness of the plaster, the woodcarver was able to take measurements for his workpiece.  This method was also used to create basic ornaments in plaster, to serve as a model and a source of inspiration for apprentices.

This work method is still very relevant and therefore I also apply it during the education of my students.

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How to make a plaster ornament

 Tangible models for woodcarvers

 

In this blog item, I introduce you to the different stages of making a leaf-shaped plaster model. 

Ornament Drawing

The modeling of the ornament in clay

Making a silicon mold

The silicon mold is ready

Casting a plaster ornament

The leaf-shaped ornament is finished

Course in woodcarving – ornamental carving

I’ve been teaching professional courses on the subject of the creation and carving of ornaments for 15 years now. This class – a course on “woodcarving - Liège ornaments” – has been successfully taught in Tongeren, (Limburg, Belgium) for many years now.

Every assignment or technique is executed in wood by me personally. These wooden panels or models are then used to create silicon moulds, so that the student has the opportunity to make his own plaster cast to serve as an example when working on his assignment in wood. The plaster casts are an important source of inspiration for the student, seeing as woodcarving is not only learned by doing, but also by observing and constantly being confronted with models and designs. 

For the moment, we have approximately 150 different models. Should you be interested in acquiring one of our educational ornaments, please feel free to contact us.

https://www.patrickdamiaens.info

City of MAASEIK HERALDIC SHIELD | Carved Shield in Wood | City Arms Carved in Wood | HERALDIC WOODCARVER

The City of MAASEIK Heraldic Shield Carved in Wood

City of Maaseik coat of arms carved in wood

On the left:  10 crossbeams with alternately golden and gules (red) cross pieces
On the right:  An oak tree on a piece of meadow, accompanied on the shield by three shortened crosses.

In heraldry, a coat of arms is a symbol linked to a person, a family, a town or state, or a group of people (e.g. guild). Traditionally it was depicted on a shield. The use of a coat of arms is called “bearing” a coat of arms.
The coat of arms was later expanded to include the helmet, containing an emblem, and a torse of the mantling. Furthermore, it was also displayed on other visible parts, in order to clearly make a distinction during battle and to link property to a person.

Nowadays escutcheons aren’t only used by families, but also as a symbol for a nation, a town, a municipality or a province. A flag depicting the coat of arms is called a banner.

 

Heraldic City Arms

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Heraldic Shield of a City

This is the oldest known Coat of Arms of Maaseik (1581) In the oval, it reads:

 NO SY OPPIDI EYCKENSIS SUP MOSAM  

 “In full, the inscription most likely read: NOSTRUM SIGILLUM OPPIDI EYCKENSIS SUPRA MOSAM : Our seal of the (fortified) town of Maaseik on the river Meuse.  

In that case, NO should have an apostrophe, as well as SY. There was no distinction between Y and I. Maaseik can therefore also be translated as “of Eyck”. An oppidum is a walled town.”

 

city arms carved in wood

Painters Hubert and Jan van Eyck, born in maaseik

HISTORY
The City of Maaseik (Belgium)
   







As its name would suggest, Aldeneik is older than Maaseik. Although there are a lot of toponyms referring to the many oaks, the word eyck is similar to the German word 'ecke', which means 'corner'. Old bend may be linked to the fact that historically, the Meuse formed a bend around the village. Throughout the whole Meuse region, the course of the Meuse has always shifted slowly. 
This happened also in Heppeneert, a hamlet just south of Maaseik. The old course of the Meuse is still clearly seen there.

Aldeneik was established by Adelard, a local Frankish lord, around 700 AD, as a Benedictine monastery. His two daughters, Herlindis and Relindis, both became abbesses of the monastery and eventually became saints. The religious center of Aldeneik soon became the focal point of a small community.

The monastery suffered heavy destruction by the Normans in the 9th century. Around 950, emperor Otto I gave the monastery to the Bishop of Liège, who delegated the administrative tasks to a local chapter of canons.

 Middle Ages

Maaseik, Nieuw-Eycke ('new oak'), was founded out of Aldeneik, around 1000. It lay near the Roman road between Maastricht and Nijmegen and safe above the valley of the Meuse. Besides, it bordered the County of Loon in the north; that's why this village got its City charter in 1244. 

The village began to grow. It became one of the most important trading places of the Meuse region.

As is typical in such towns, the four main streets begin at the market-place square. On this market place stands a statue of the famous painters Hubert and Jan van Eyck, who were (probably) born in Maaseik in 1390. The oldest private pharmacy of Belgium is also on the market square. The rectangular shape of the city walls is also typical. On the west side of the city, a castle was built against the wall.

The walls were dismantled in 1467, when Charles the Bold attacked the Prince-Bishopric of Liège during the Liège Wars and destroyed many cities in the region. Maaseik was also besieged in 1672 by Louis XIV. The city burned in 1650 and 1684; the last fire destroyed 1/3 of the entire city, included the historic center. 

After that the Maaseikenaars built stone houses instead of wooden ones. During the iconoclastic period, Maaseik almost became independent, but Gerard van Groesbeek was able to calm the people.

 16th century until now

In the 16th and 17th century the economy reached its high point, thanks to Maaseik's advantageous location between Liège and the sea. Its commercial activity remained strong until the second half of the 17th century, when the regional power of Liège started to fade. 

During all that time, Maaseik was still a dependence of the chapter of canons in Aldeneik. Just before the French Revolution, no fewer than six religious institutes were still present in the city.

The walls were rebuilt in the 16th century and strengthened by Vauban in the following century. 

After the French retreat in 1815, however, the military installations were gradually taken down. Only the south section of the embankment remains. Names of the old city gates (e.g., Bospoort, Maaspoort) recall the time when the city was walled. In 2007, remains of a tower were found during excavation for an underground parking garage. This tower was part of the castle.

Heraldic Wood Carver Patrick Damiaens

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Heraldic Woodcarving, Family Coat of Arms and

Heraldry carved in Wood

https://www.patrickdamiaens.info